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Updated November 17th, 2021 at 21:38 IST

South Korean-Chinese researchers create next gen semiconductor material 'TMD'

The research team succeeded in producing core dichalcogenide materials such as tungsten disulfide as wafer-scale single-crystal Transition Metal Dichalcogenide.

Reported by: Anurag Roushan
South Korea
Image: ANI/Representative | Image:self
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South Korea's Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), announced on Tuesday that a team of researchers discovered the core principle affecting the growth of large-area single-crystal dichalcogenides, reported ANI citing Global Economic. The researchers in collaboration with a Chinese research team succeeded in producing core dichalcogenide materials such as tungsten disulfide (WS2) as wafer-scale single-crystal Transition Metal Dichalcogenide (TMD). TMD is a next-generation semiconductor made of chalcogen molecules like sulphur (S), selenium (Se), and Tellurium (Te) as well as transition metals.

As the TMD, which is made up of two elements, has structural symmetry points on the periphery rather than the centre, selecting substrates in the semiconductor manufacturing process becomes problematic. According to the research team, the 'dual-coupling-guided epitaxial growth approach,'  is a method for selecting an optimal substrate for the TMD. The research team also noted that in the case of tungsten disulfide (WS2), which prefers two reversed parallel structures, all WS2s formed at the step edge on the substrate may be aligned in a single orientation using the sapphire substrate insulator.

Findings evaluated to speed up commercialisation of new semiconductor materials

Furthermore, crystal grains grow at the step's edge, eventually forming a large-area single-crystal of the same size as the substrate. TMDs such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), tungsten diselenide (WSe2), and molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2) were also successfully produced on a large-area 2-inch wafer scale by the collaborative research team. It should be mentioned here that the findings, published in the authoritative journal in nano-science 'Nature Nanotechnology,' has been evaluated to drastically speed up the commercialisation of new semiconductor materials after silicon.

It should be mentioned here that early this month, South Korean multinational electronics corporation Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix provided their semiconductor business data to the US government. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix submitted data linked to semiconductor inventory and sales to the US Department of Commerce on November 9. Earlier in September, the US Department of Commerce had asked semiconductor design, manufacturing, supplying, and distributing corporations to submit the business data. In an official statement, Samsung Electronics had stated that apart from sensitive confidential information the corporation submitted semiconductor-related data to the US government in a suitable manner to protect trust in customer relations. 

(With ANI inputs)

Image: ANI/Representative

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Published November 17th, 2021 at 21:38 IST

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